Throughout history, the impact on women in society has increased more and more and gender roles have both been magnified and easier to break. The differences between mother and daughter are decided on the methods of teaching, supporting, and enforcement of beliefs within the household they were raised. As daughters become mothers, they might change the way they parent based on the positive and negative effects of their upbringing. However, the “norms” of society can deeply impact a woman's development despite the way they were raised. In the play, A Raisin In The Sun, Lorraine Hansberry shows the relationship between mother and daughter as she depicts the differences in generational gender roles through her characters Mama, Ruth, and Beneatha …show more content…
Hansberry illustrates this through a conversation between Mama and Walter, in which they talk about what “is life”(Hansberry 74)? Throughout the argument Walter argues that money is life, that life has always been about money. Mama on the other hand says that “Once upon a time freedom used to be life”, and she questions the way she raised her son, that he would forget the pain and turmoil she went through, escaping the south and escaping slavery, trying to be free. Later on in the play, Hansberry contextualizes the difficulties of male validation and the consequences of entrusting something valuable in someone who is too ambitious for their own good. Mama gives Walter the money, she gives him all of it and tells him that he is the man of the house now. She gives him what he wants, only asking him to put some aside for his sister, Beneatha. He takes it, and his ambition and gives all the money to his “friend”. Mama trusted Walter with the money, she gave him the validation he craved, and he sorely disappointed the entire